Combined wire and ribbon grinder



Dec. 27, 1949 I... ILLMER COMBINED WIRE AND RIBBON GRINDER 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 25, 1947 Dec. 27, 1949 1.. ILLMER 2,492,221

, COMBINED WIRE AND RIBBON GRINDER Filed June 25, 1947 I 4Sheets-Sheet 3 DeC. 27, 1949 lLLMER COMBINED WIRE AND RIBBON GRINDER 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed June 25, 1947 m0 mm IN VEN TOR.

Patented Dec. 27, 1949 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,492,221 COMBINED wins AND RIBBON GRINDER Louis lllmer, Cortland, N. Y. Application June 25, 1947. Serial No. 756,843

This invention relates to a heavy duty surface grinding machine in which a series of abrasive tapes or the like cutting agency is effectively utilized to treat a long reelable work piece of alloy steel or other hard high tensile strand stock when dragged in a closed circuit. A laterally pliable wire or ribbon batch of this kind;- is herein unidirectionally dragged in successive passes between mated winch drum units a.t -a relatively high velocityto impart an intensified cutting rate to the treated product when brought into operative engagement with a plurality of slowly fed abrasive tapes as carried by either rotating or stationary grinder head arranged to abrade the entire strand perimeter. The object of my improvements is to devisea compact strand layout of the indicated character capable of repeatedly reeling a long endless batch of heavy wire or ribbon stock in passes through one or more grinder heads whereby to complete its penetrative abrasive treatment-ata fast low-cost production rate and which installation requires a comparatively short intervening shut down period during which to replenish a completely ground batch. Embodied herein are also certain reel structural aspects designed to promote the end in view, preferablyg when contrived for wires of one-eighth inch or :lessin diameter.

Reference is had to the accompanying four sheets of drawings of a preferred exemplifi'cation, and in which drawings:

Fig. 1 illustrates an elevational side view of my machine provided with pairs of grinder heads, and Fig. 2 represents a top view thereof.

Fig. 3 shows a roller detail taken along 3-3 of Fig. 1, and Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along 44 of Fig. 3.

Figs. 5A and 5B are taken along 5--5 of Fig. 4 and respectively reveal ribbon and wire stock as alternatively disposed in the same shape of winch groove. v

Fig. 6 is an elevational front end view of my. grinder machine.

Fig. '7 represents a transverse sectional view of a grinder head unit taken along 1-1 of Fig. 2, and Fig. 8 a partial longitudinal section taken along'8-8 of Fig. '7.

Fig. 9 shows a face view of a grinder head disc as seen from 9-9 of Fig. 2, and Fig. 10 a cross-' sectional detail of tape backing means taken along l0l0 of Fig. 9.

Referring more specifically to the assembly Figs. 1, 2, and 6, may each be provided with a winch drumunit.

my front and rear grinder ends respectively comprising a pair of axially interspaced lower and upper sheaves designated 40A and I013, also HA and 3. Such component winch sheaves or reels may be superimposed in the manner shown to combinedly stow a comparatively long batch of endless stock requiring relatively small floor space and of which substantially the entire strand length is exposed to air cooling;

Each reel or sheave of my duplex winches is purposely kept sufficiently large in diametral size that the spirally applied endless reelable strand I! may not become harmiully stressed or abnormally set while repeatedly passing over the That is to say, each such reel diameter should. be kept commensurate with the size of thereeled strand in order that the bending stress and its resulting elongation are not allowed to inordinately exceed the elastic limit of the reeled wire. It will be obvious that such appropriately sized reel may be used in combination with a singleor multiple grinder head units at a proportionate difierence in wire pass requirements fora stipulated diametral reduction of the treated work piece.

As detailed in Figs. 3 and 4, each such reel preferablyutilizes a conventional cast doublearm spider 15 whose perimeter may be snugly embraced by a relatively thick hard wood rim l6 having a noncrowned face. Each end of such rim face may be reeniorced against collapse under aggregate radial loading, by the aflixed annular sheet metal side discs such as H.

The cylindrical face of said rim may in close succession be provided with a series of sheet metal groove troughs such as ['8 of which the next adjacent outturned legs l9 may be spot welded together to constitute a sheave. Each component trough may be individually rolled in arcuate segments with abutting ends welded at 23 to a sunken transverse keeper key 2|. Several such keys maybe equiangularly distributed about the rim axis and collectively fortify such assembly against tangential slip when subjected to heavy strand torque.

The cross-sectionally medial or bottom profile of each trough may be shaped to provide for a radially raised ledge 20 on which to track ribbon stock such as I2 (see Fig. 5A) or as an alternative,seat a pair of round wires such as I2 (see Fig. 53). My endless work piece or treated strand l2 may be continuously and spirally rim curvature.

wrapped about each pair of winch reels and then passed on to the other winch in the Fig. 1 man Each such reel is arranged to keep its spirally laid wire in single level wound layer formation to permit of a fast drag transfer through my grinder without snarling or other entanglement, A like result may be attained by having the oncoming wire fall into spiral adjacency by the use of a plain tubular sheath without need of any reel grooves.

As will be seen from Fig. 2, each such sheave is purposely kept axially long in comparison to its diameter in order to accommodate-numerouscon volutions of stowed strand. My endless work piece may be trained between the mated sheaves I of each winch in staggered American rope transmission fashion. Such or the equivalentspiral disposition serves to shift the reeled strand laterally and thereby cause it to travel from one toward the other winch end. The companion-reel located at the opposite grinder end, is arranged to reverse such travel and bring the treatedstr'and back into registry with the tubular grinder units 25A; 253, etc. In substance, the novelunidirecti'onal reeling principle underlying my grinder resides in-spirally training the strand to perimetrically embrace one of such winch reels while its mate is made to serve as conjoint control means that laterally shift the plural strand wrappings in a direction lengthwise of the axis of said one reel in a substantially maintained level wound status without need of reel reversal. Such duplex reeling system also affords an augmented batch stowage capacity, particularly for finer sized Wires.

As represented in Fig. 1 by dotted lines, my endless work piece requires-only two winch interconnecting strand components respectively designated [2A and IZBthat travel in contrary directions along a closed circuit. The component IZA may be actively carried through one or more of said grinder units while the return strand'component l-ZB may be laterally offset therefrom in registry with certain axially remote grooves of the companion sheaves [8B and HB in a cleared relation to said grinder units as shown. If desired, the return component IZB may be equipped with a guided rider roller 13 that may be adjustably loaded for augmented sag by the weights l4.

Referring now to the mounting of my reels or sheaves, each winch preferably comprises a pair of vertical A-frames 26A. and 26B that may be built up from structuralsteel and laterally reenforced by struts such as 21 (see Fig; 1). Theseframes may be erected upon a common sole plate comprising parallel channels such as 28 extend-- ing throughout the length of my grin'dermachine. Complementary stay beams such as 22 may interbrace the top regions of said'frames against sway.

The upper and lower frame crossbars 29 and-30 may each reversely mount thereon a-pillow block such as 3| which are preferably equipped with heavy duty needle roller bearings. Twin upper and lower reel mounting axles 32 and 33 are carried by mated sets of axially aligned pillow blocks. One such lower axle 33 may be rotatably driven by a unidirectional primary geared type of motor 34 mounted upon a lateral extension of the sole plate 28.

Because of the considerable drag exerted by multiple grinder heads, the fast running work piece l2 will be subject to a correspondinghigh tension. Such endless strand when trained about my mated winch reels as described, accumulatively imposes a considerable reaction on all' pillow blocks. The use of the cited axle roller bearings materially mitigates the resulting friction losses. 6

After starting the motor 34, the tension of an operatively installed work piece in leaving the tandem grinder heads, will be considerably greater than its trailing tension. The provision for numerous closely spaced wire loops afford an adequate winch grip to drag a heavily loaded work piece without substantial drive slip. In normal operation, my dragged strand I 2 is preferably run at a velocity of several thousand feet per minute to maintain intensive cutting action in cooperatioli' with an abrasive agency that is slowly fed toward a localized grinding zone and whose grit may be completely spent in a single pass therethrough.

In order to adjustably control the work piece grip on the motor driven reel NBA and also to facilitate batch renewal, an upper sheave axle 32 may be retractibly mounted by the use of a pair of guide levers such as 35 which may be fulcrumed at 36 to the upper crossbar 29 as shown. Each free lever end may be conjointly raised counterwise to strand tension by the-dual hydraulic jacks 31A and 373 respectively equipped with a pump or equivalent fluid supply furnished from a common ram controlled accumulator. These jacks-may be manipulated inunison by the pump handle-38 which rocks the cross shaft 39- and thus maintains the upper andlower reel axles insub' stantial parallelism. The highpressure cham bers of said jacks may be equalized by the pipe 413. An adjustable bleeder valve 4| limits the gross tension-imposed on the winch wrapped work piece [2.

A lowering of the levers 35'- simultane'ously re lieves strand tension in all reel interconnecting strands and thus materially increases the sag of the return'component IZB, it being evident that a slight lever shift brings about a comparatively large multiplying slackening of such suspended strand. One or both of my duplex reel towers may be equipped with such retractible levers. In so faras my jacks function as an inverted tackle block in raising the upper reel against prevailing multiple strand tension, this calls for a minor strand slip in successive looped reelcoils'. It is therefore preferred to apply the ultimate jack effort while such installed endless strand is being given a certain degree oflongit-udinal movement.

Fig. 3 provides'for supplementary roller means 42 mounted in bearings 43 between a pair of de-' pending frame straps A l and which means is arranged to' bridge all strand-loops that embrace mated reels such as 5 9A and HEB. Said roller may be grooved in registry with the projecting trough legs is whereby to retain such threaded strands in place;

As regards my improved means for bodily replenishing a'compl'eted strand batch with dispatch, further reference is had to Fig; 1. After being slacke'ned, a fully ground endless strand may be severed at 35 and the respective cut ends carried to a demountable oiftake drum G5 and to a cooperating batch supplyspool 4! as schematically represented in dotted and dashedlines. Said drum is arranged to shift axially along a keyed supporting pin $61; and the spool islikewise arranged to shift along a keyless pin 41A. An auxiliary slow speed motor &8 may serve to intermittently rotate the drum 46 through its chain drive 49.

Batch replenishment may be further facilitated by the use of an interposed lead wire such as 24A or 24B of which a portion may finally be welded in place to renew'a' closed batchcircuit;

In the event successive work piece batches sliould coarse :grit' may at the mermination of a strand treatment, he slowed-down to enhance surf-ace finish.

Referring .aagain ftofig. 21,= =a coupling :such as 82211185 be installed :between rear end of. the duplex-shafts .-.63 and :64 land ftheirugear interconnected motor 69. The opposite :or :iorward end ofsuch duplex shaftsimay beg-iven .a spline shape adapted to snugly engage a bridge strap 183 :serv- :-to block said shafts :against :rotation when the-couplings -82 are-disengaged. Alternate heads may then be swung in nn-ison so zas to interlockinglycausectheir respective tapes take in .azcoml-mon plane. Such stationary heads are utilized .to-treat ribbon :stock in lieu of round stock.

Achain drive 84 interposed between ithe motor i9 and its coupling .82, :may comprise :a pinion sprocket carried by'the shaft 63 and a larger sprocket 86 mounted about the differential gear casing 81' -.(see Figs. .-1 and.2)

Such .tubular casing may be coaxiallymounted about the .feedshaft .14 .andencase .a set .of difierential bevel gears 88 and .89, as. indicated in dotted outline. The (forward bevel ,gear 88 .is

affixed to saidfeedrshaft while its opposed similar gear. may Joev carried by .a split 'feedlshaft extension Sllj The lattermay beindependently motor driven by aslowspeed gyro reducer .9l' through .a train of change ears I.9 2A and 92B. By virtue of the motorized Fig.1? gearing and assumin the bridgestrap ,83 .to be released, the feed shaft T4 may be .brought to arotative .spee'dl'identical with that of the grinder heads '50A and 25113. "Under such conditions, and while the gyro drive motor is cut out of service, the planetary gears WA and 183 would not feed any "tape toward their respective grinding zones. -When however said change gears are gyro driven to impart a Prescribed slow-rate of rotation-to the shaft extension -90, this will maintain a corresponding feed for all head tapes. The use of a suitable change gear ratio "provides for -a faster tape feed -for large than -for-small'wire sizes.

*W-hentreating ribbonstock, "the described disengagement of 'the couplings 82 will still allow the tapes to be advanced collectively, although the lockedgrinder heads rem'ain stationary. For ribbon stock, it is desirable 'to-reversely feed-such tapes in alternate head units from opposededges toward the center line 'of the treatedribbon stock. Such disposition prevents formation of *pronounced crowning of its treated flat sidefaces. When only one ribbon face is to be abraded, superimposed thin strands 1 -2 (see Fig. 515-)- 'maybe simultaneously'dragged through multiple 'grin-der headunits.

*Such unidirectional endless strand -treatment affords-an advantage-over intermittently'reversed strands offinite-lengthin thattheallowable pass velocity "may be faster and does not suffer a loss of productive capacity during 'frequent'reversal periods.

'My machine is particularly adapted to "treat reelable alloy 'wires of reasonably large size and may economically impart a five-percent weight reduction thereto sufli'cient to grind out ex-posed crevices, -eliminatedecarbonization'and otherwise perfect its surface for -a subsequent redraw "into a smaller wire size. As applied *to plow steel cables for long suspension bridges,-the resultingincrease in meantensile-strength'reducesits associated own weight "sag.

The foregoing rather explicit structural idisclosure and "its functional behavior will *it is fibelieved, make taride'nttc those skilled in this art,

the more outstanding commercial and operative advantages afforded by my grinder improvements,. and I reserve the right to equivalently modif-y suchiillustrateddesign features, all without departing fromsthe spirit and scope of any invention, heretofore described and more particularly characterized :in the appended claims.

51 claim:

-1. .A strand grinder machine comprising .a pair of winch units respectively includin mated iframes that each mount twin .axles Ithereacross and which axles :respectively carry .a reel adapted :to have .an endless reela'ble work piece strained aboutboth .Such winch units with-assingle active and .a ing1ere urn work piec .compouent trans- ;ferrably suspended. between said units, tubular grinder means interposed between said .units and which active component ispoperatiuely conveyed through said grinder :means, and .a unidirectional motor connected to drive one of such axles to advance the work piece longi- ,tudina-lly.

.2. A strandgrinder machine comprising a pair of winch units respectively including parallelly mounted axlesthat :eaeh carry a reeladapted Ito have an endless .reelable work piece threaded about Ibothsuch winch units witha-single active and a single return work piece component trans.- .ferrably suspended between said units, .;tubular grinder means interposed between said ,winch .units and which active component iscooperatively conveyed through said grinder .means. means IQ .adjustably altering theaxle spacing of one such winch u t, and motorized means drivin on o theiaxles to advance ,the workpiece longitudinally.

,.3. ,A ,strand grinder ma h n c p sin a winch drum unit includingmatedirame respectively provided with a crossbar, retractible guide means :for each crossbar, a pillowi'block.upheldby each such .guide means to lie in .axial registry, an axle spanning said pillow blocks, a reel mounted on said axle asa strand carrier, grinder m ns on r v ly en g n the work p ece, a d actuating means forsimultaneously shifting said guide means whereby to adjustably alter'the axial position of said reel.

4. A strand treatin grinder machine adap ed .to .treatia .reelalole work piece and which machine comprises .a winch unitincluding mated .frame's, retractible guide meansior each frame, apillow block supported by each such guide means, an axle spanning said .pillow'blocks, areel mounted on saidcaxleas a strandcarrier, actuating means for shifting said .guide means whereby .to ad.- justably slacken the carried strand, v grinder means operatively engaging the work piece, and supplementary, roller. means servingtoretain such slackenedstrand in running registry with thereel perimeter.

"5. A strand treating grinder machine compri ing a winch unit provided with axially spaced complementary "reel drums adapted to have an endless reelable work piece looped about both such drums, grinder means actively cooperating with said work piece, a series .of strand receiving endless troughs superimposed upon andjlaterally distributed in succession around the peripheral rim surface of one such drum, said troughs each being cross-sectionally shaped ,to provide -fo'r opposed outstanding legs and a radially raised ledgeinterposed between said 'legs, and means securing such troughsto said rimsurface.

6. A strand :treating .Lgrinder comprising a pair of -winch units respectively provided with mated vary materially in overall finite length, such incorporated welded lead wire may be correspondingly altered to maintain a fixed loop length.

The geared auxiliary motor 48 may replenish a finished batch at a linear drag velocity substan- 1 less circuit. By now actuating the handle 38, the f jacks may be manipulated to restore a suitable initial tension to a newly installed work piece batch. While being severed or spliced, the slackened strand ends may be retained against undue separation .by the complementary frame mounted clamps 5IA and SIB.

The fact that the ofitake drum 4!; removes a completed batch at the same time that a new batch is being fed oiT the supply spool 41, cuts down the required replenishing time and aids in maintaining a high productive capacity for my grinder without prolonged shut down between active grinding periods. The axial length of each reel is preferably kept sufliciently wide to stow a comparatively long length of smaller sized wire or ribbon stock. For such a condition, substantially all of the provided reel width may be selectively utilized and thus provide convenient means for accommodating different endless batch lengths. Minor variations in mill run lengths may be compensated by the cited incorporation of a lead wire. Fig. 2 shows the ofitake drum 46 and batch supply spool 41 positioned in alignment with a fully filled winch reel. Such drum and spool may however be shiftably retained in registry with an intermediate wire loop position. If desired, my batch replenishing spool may also be elevated and upheld across complementary frame stay beams such as 22.

Fig. 8 is illustrative of a preferred grinder unit and as such may comprise a pair of flanged rotary or stationary head discs 59A and 50B that are overhangingly aiiixed to opposite ends of the tubular spindle 52. Said spindle may rotate in a pair of ball bearings shown as individually mounted in the pedestals 54 and 55 that are interspaced to install the spindle drive gear 56 therebetween. A meshing idler gear 51 may be mounted upon a pedestal bridge pin 58 as shown. Each such pedestal may be separately supported upon a superstructure comprising the rolled tic or cross beam 59 whose ends are afiixedly carried by a pair of parallel rolled stringer beams 60A and 60B of substantial web depth that extend crosswise beneath the head discs. Said superstructure may be upheld by a plurality of structural uprights 51A, GEB, etc. (see Figs. 1 and 2) erected upon the sole plate 28. While only two grinder units are disclosed, a heavy duty machine may consist of more units than are shown. The

rate of grinder output may be increased in aproportionate relation to the number of grinder heads employed, provided their combined abrasive drag is kept within bounds.

For reasons that will appear presently, in the treatment of ribbon stock I2 (see Fig. 5A) the rotatably mounted discs 50A and 50B are all held 6 stationary. For wire stock l2 (see Fig. 53), it is preferred to rotate successive head pairs in reverse directions since such handling maintains a substantially balanced torque on treated wire.

To this end, dual disc drive shafts 83 and 64 may run in hanger bearings such as 65 suspended from appropriate tie beams 59 as indicated in Figs. '7 and 8. Corresponding ends of such dual shafts may be inter-connected to run in reverse directions by the spur gears 66 and =61. A stringer supported cradle 68 may demountably support a slow speed supplementary motor 69 (shown in dotted and dashed outline in Fig. '7) which may coaxially align with and be directly connected to one dual shaft such as 63. Each of said shafts may carry a plurality of driven staggered gears such as 10 (see Fig. 8) that alternately mesh with the radially offset idler spindle gears 51 and 51. This disposition allows certain alternate head units to be reversely driven by the duplex shafts 63 and 64 in the direction indicated by arrows in Fig. 1. Such refinement obviates an accumulative twist being imposed on a long treated wire by a heavy abrasive torsional drag.

Attached to one stringer beam as 60A, is a series of sectionalized brackets such'as 13 which longitudinally mount the single tape feed shaft 14. Said shaft carries a tape feed gear 15 adjacent to the respective opposed bracket ends. Each bracket may be further provided with a'fork extension for mounting the idler feed gear 16 that meshes with its driven feed gear 15. The previously cited pedestal journals 53 may each uphold a twin master gear I! of which the inner component meshes with a registering idler reed gear 16. The gear arrangement is such that the master gear may rotate independently of the spindle 52. The other of said twin master gears 1'! may mesh with a pair of planetary head gears 18A and 18B.

The outturned cup rims of my abrasive head discs are interspaced to leave ample serving room between next adjacent head units. Each head disc provides for the symmetrically disposed dual tapes 19A and 193 (see Fig. 9) which are individually advanced over suitable guide rollers between opposed spring-backed jaws of the pivoted type such as and into abrasive engagement with the endless strand l2 that may be loosely threaded through the tandem spindles 52.

Said tapes are respectively arranged to feed from the radially opposed supply spools A and 85B and led to one of the continuously driven feed rollers MA or BIB. The respective roller shanks may be journalled through separate head disc bores to overhangingly mount a planetary gear thereon such as 18A or 183 of which the diameter may be kept identical with their meshing com,- mon master gear 11. The resulting gear train advances the abrasive tapes of each disc in opposed directions as indicated. When slowly fed, the grit of each tape becomes substantially spent in a single pass through its localized cutting zone. For a given head rotation, the direction of advance of the complementary tapes may be reversed by a shift in the position of the feed rollers.

The resulting lengthwise work piece stroking with partially loaded tape, attains a substantially smooth, bright finish although fast cutting 20 mesh grit may be employed. Such processing in turn, permits of intensively grinding a long length of strand stock on a rapid, low cost basis. Where a still higher grade of finish is sought, finer tape grit may be resorted to or the feed rateof loaded reels adapted to install a reelable work piece about such winch units and whichwjork piece includes a component, transferrably suspended between said units, a primary motor normally driving a reel of one such unit and serving to im-- part longitudinal grinding movement to the installed work piece for a restricted ,pe'i'iod, grinder; means operatively engaging said suspended corn-w ponent, an ofitake drum and a batch supplyspqql.

interposed between said, winch units, and

'7. A grinder machine comprising twin reel means axially interspaced and adapted to have a reelable strand portion transferrably suspended therebetween, a superstructure, includingflsubxstantially parallel stringer beams interposedlbetween the perimeters" of the reel means,- pluralgrinderunits respectively including; a rotatable. head arranged toabrasively treat saidstrand;-

portion with abrasive tape'and' which units are disposed in tandem lengthwise 'of said' beams, reversely rotated duplex drive shafts extending beneath said units and respectively serving to rotate the head of alternate grinder units, and a single tape feed shaft bracketed exteriorly to one such beam and actuated to run in unison with a certain duplex shaft.

8. A strand treating grinder machine comprising a pair of winch units spaced apart at a fixed distance and respectively provided with mated reels adapted to install thereon a reelable endless work piece of finite circuitous extent including a work piece component transferrably suspended between said units and the stock batch for which work piece is furnished in different mill run lengths, grinder means operatively engaging said suspended work piece component, and means including an accessory driven offtake drum and a cooperating batch supply spool aiding to incorporate a lead length into the aforesaid circuit and thereby compensate for discrepancies in successive mill run lengths.

9. A strand treating grinder machine comprising a pair of axially spaced reel means adapted to abrasively treat a relatively long reelable endless work piece that perimetrically embraces both such means to stow a major batch length portion thereon and having relatively short dual strand portions respectively suspended in substantial parallelism between corresponding axial end regions of said pair of reel means, grinder means operatively engaging one such strand, drive means for rotating one of said reel means and advancing the dual strand portions in opposite travel directions, and means for laterally shifting the work piece out of alignment with respect to said one strand toward its opposed reel end region and for reversing such shift when arriving at the other reel means whereby a component of said endless batch is brought back into substantial alignment with said one strand for delivery toward said grinder means and which reel means except for said strands constitute the primary means for stowing said batch thereon.

10. A strand treating grinder machine comprising a pair of axially spaced reel means adapted to abrasively treat a relatively long reelable endless work piece that perimetrically embraces both such means to stow a major batch length portion thereon and having relatively short dual strand portions respectively suspended between said pair of reel means, tubular grinder means operatively engaging one such strand and which strand is entered through the, grinder means, drive means unidirectionally rotating one of said reels, and 1 proach toward the grinder means during successive passes of said endless work piece through the last named means.

11. Astrand treating grinder machine comprising a pair of winch units respectively provided with complementary reels adapted to install end-' rasuch units in laterally interspaced relation conless work pieces of divers lengths when successively looped about such units with an active work piece component and a single return com-- ponent that are transferably suspended between tingent upon the number of loops required to service the respective work piece lengths, grinder means, operatively engaging said active component, and a driven oiftake drum and a cooperating batch supply spool of which one such is rendered axially shiftable to accommodate a change in the interspacing between said active and return components.

12. A strand treating grinder machine comprising a pair of reeling units respectively comprising an axle mounted reel which are respectively interspaced in substantial parallelism and mutually adapted to longitudinally drag a relatively long endless strand as a work piece throughout the length thereof in successive passes, said strand being trained to perimetrically embrace said reels spirally in level wound layer formation to leave relatively short dual strand portions respectively suspended between said reeling units, grinder means operatively engaging one such dual strand portion, drive means unidirectionally advancing the dual strand portions in opposite travel directions, means associated with said reeling units for laterally shifting the strand portion that perimetrically embraces one reel in a direction axially of such reel in a substantially maintained level wound status, retractable guide means applied to a reeling unit, and releasable actuating means for the guide means serving to adjustably tension the strand.

13. A strand treating grinder machine comprising a pair of reelin units respectively comprising an axle mounted reel which are respectively interspaced in substantial parallelism and mutually adapted to longitudinally drag a relatively long endless strand as a Work piece throughout the length thereof in successive passes, said strand being trained to perimetrically embrace said reels spirally in level wound layer formation to leave relatively short dual strand portions respectively suspended between said reeling units, grinder means operatively engaging one such dual strand portion, drive means unidirectionally advancing the dual strand portions in opposite travel directions, means associated with said reeling units for laterally shifting the strand portion that perimetrically embraces one reel in a direction axially of such reel in a substantially maintained level wound status, retractible guide means applied to the respective ends of a reel axle, and hydraulic means simultaneously actuating each such guide means to an equalized extent.

14. A strand treating grinder machine comprising a pair of reeling units respectively comprising an axle mounted reel which are respectively 11 interspaced in substantial parallelism and mutuany adapted to longitudinall-ydrag a relatively longendless-strand as a work piecethroughout the length thereof in successive passes, said strand being trained to perimetrically embrace said reels spiral]? in level wound layer formation to leave relatively short dual strand portions respectively suspended between said ,reelingunits, grinder means operatively engaging one suehdual -straml portion, drive means un-idirectionallyadvanemg the dual strand portions-in I opposite travel direetions, and means associated with said reeling-units for-laterally shifting the strandpertion thatperimetrically embraces. one reelln-a direction axially of such reel in a substantially maintained level Wound status.

15 A strand treating grinder machine comprising a pair of winch reels mutually adapted *to longitudinally drag an endless stranel as a work piece in successive rpasses, saict strand being trained to repeated-ly loop-said-reels inlevel'layer 12 rolling type of bearing serving to. uphold .eagh such axle :emi, grinder means operatively associated wifilisaid strand and imposing a substantial tension lengthwiseofthe strand'jaortion 'looped'abogt saidreels; unidirectional motive n'leans provided with 9.- sp ed reducer coupledlfo one end of said axle; and'supplementflary substantially duplicate formation, an axle supporting one of-sai'd reel's intermediate its axle regions, an antikiction winch reelseilceptrorthe applied motive means serviflg tp laterally return the strand back into volfeg fstgy wlth'ithe first oncoming loop of V the 'initiallysgmmed pair of-winch reels;

V nEFEnENo-Es Ehfl'tsillhwine re.mren es ar of record in. the like .011 patent:

uremia sirens IAIENTS' 

